"Violet Trailer"
(Music: New Divide by Linkin Park Nightcore: /watch?v=VAsGwab2MeU)
"If you can't see through a problem, polish it up and look at your own reflection first."
Meroch stepped into the dark room, wielding the Tempus Eternum, two chakrams, in each hand, taking a defensive stance. He sported a white buttoned shirt with a dark violet waist coat. A white trench coat covered his body with the inside lined with purple and the collars folded up along with black trousers and combat boots He knew what he was in for, and yet he didn't. He knew that something would be out for his blood at any moment, but what it was still remained to be seen.
Suddenly the room lit up, and his surroundings became clearer. It was a large, mostly empty room with some crates piled up along the sides. With them were some barrels with some unknown liquid and a bunch of used tools lying around. The other end of the room, however, was still kept in darkness. Nothing more than an abandoned warehouse, it seemed.
"Commencing Test #037."
A voice resounded across the room.
Warehouse may have been right, but abandoned was far from what it was. This was one of the isolated locations Atlas used for testing new machines and prototypes. After multiple modifications and refinements, these machines would be able to deal with threats ranging from Grimm attacks to rogue huntsmen and huntresses. However, in their testing stages, the students of Atlas would test the combat capabilities of the machines, as well as their own, as part of their training.
At that moment, the large steel door behind him was sealed shut. Then, the walls started to emit a faint white glow. They were reinforced with layer of dust to prevent any unnecessary collateral damage, and to keep any outsiders from getting their hands on classified information.
"What's with you and all of these machines anyway? Do you really think that an army of these soulless chunks of metal can save us from whatever's out there?" Meroch was never at ease with the thought that the ones guarding their lives didn't even have a piece of humanity in them.
"You may say that now, but that's the whole point of this, isn't it? I can assure you that our scientists and engineers are doing what they can to improve these assets," Ironwood replied. He spoke with such an optimistic voice over the mic. Right now, he was talking not as a general, but as the headmaster of an academy.
"To each his own, I guess. Well then, let's see what you have this time."
The door at the far end of the room slid open. Meroch couldn't see them yet, but their footsteps were getting louder. He started to make out at least two silhouettes about five meters tall, with bright red glows on their joints, walking slowly on two legs towards him.
Before he could fully analyze his enemies, his focus was broken by a number of projectiles flying right at him. He instinctively dodged to the side, thinking that they were explosives, but once they landed, they quickly latched onto the ground and started to emit a high-pitched noise.
'Argh! What's with that noise?! My legs won't budge either.'
He looked at the ground around him and saw those little devices emitting electromagnetic fields around them, making him unable to move.
'So that's what it is.' He thought. His face straightened up and he was able to think straight again. Amidst the screeching noise, he heard a few clicks. The sound of guns ready to fire, ready to fire straight at him.
At that moment, he pulled the trigger of the chakram on his right, extending its blades and charging them with a surge of electricity. He held it in front of him, spun it, and let go. The blades spun in front of him like a fan, held in place by the electric field around him. They deflected any bullets that made contact, sending them flying across the room, and causing the walls to ripple continuously.
He tightened his grip on the chakram in his left hand and counted the number of devices around his feet.
'Six…seven…eight!' He took aim at one of them and sent the disc flying towards it. The moment they made contact, the device created a tiny explosion and broke down, while the disc simply vanished.
It reappeared within a split-second, aimed at another device at full speed, and vanished again. It was there at one moment, then gone at the next. Right before striking the last one, he adjusted his stance, now being able to move a bit. He then made his weapon reappear, blowing up the last piece of metal and breaking the field with the mechs still firing at him.
He rolled to the left and started running towards some crates, calling both of his weapons back into his hands and retracting the blades of the one on the right. He slid down and took a moment of rest, using the time to get a good look at his enemies.
Standing almost five meters tall, their bodies were painted purely black with the spaces at the joints emitting a bright red glow. They stood on two legs and were extremely bulky. They had chain guns for hands and wielded a cannon over each shoulder. It wasn't clear what else they had under that thick armor.
They stood there making no more sounds than those from their joints, twisting and turning while emitting red beams in search of their target. They locked onto a spinning white disc moving away from them before losing sight of it again in an instant. It flew right across their heads, slicing the ends of their arms and encasing them in ice. The beams then started to aim at the boy running at them at full speed, now with the disc in hand which was glowing bright red. They tried to fire their shoulder cannons at him, but his speed couldn't be matched.
He stood a few meters to the side of the machine to his left and threw his charged weapon at their frozen arms, creating a little explosion while shattering the ice and releasing a mist that disrupted the beams, though it wasn't enough to mask the bulky figures that stood there confused, if it were even possible for them to be.
Meroch called back the disc and extended a blade on each side. He jumped into the mist and went for the side cannons of the closer robot, slicing them off with his right and landing beside the other. He slid back and jumped again, disarming the second robot. He ran back a safe distance after landing and examined the condition of his enemies as the mist was clearing.
Their guns lay in pieces on the ground, and sparks flew out of their shoulders. It had seemed that they were completely unarmed. They dropped what remained of their forearms into the rest of the scraps and ice shards that lay before them. The repeated clunks caused by the impacts were followed by the sound of gears turning as portions of the upper torsos of the machines added to the length of their severed arms and became their new upper arms, while the initial ones had transformed into swords and took the place of the forearms.
The way they adjusted their footing after reshaping themselves made it seem that their arms were heavier now, and that they had a harder time maintaining their balance, especially since their weight had been pushed away from their center.
'Well, you can never be too sure.' Meroch thought. He threw one of his discs at a medium speed straight at one of the mechanical "heads" in front of him. As soon as the robotic arm got in range, it swiftly knocked the disc back to where it came from. That reaction time was much faster than Meroch had expected. It made him wonder exactly how much weight they lost after they dropped their guns.
"If it's a test of speed, I'll take it over weights any day."
He picked up the fallen weapon before him and readied himself. Each side of his Tempus Eternum split into two as he dropped the discs that had now become wheels, and slipped them right onto his feet.
He dashed towards the robots, swerving left and right as they ran straight at him. The one on the right tried to lunge at him, but he slid a bit to the left and let the blade graze his gauntlet, giving him more traction.
He boosted himself a little bit further past them and lifted his left foot. He pulled it back and transitioned into a kick at full force, simultaneously activating his semblance on the wheel and sending it away. It came back in a fiery blaze, appearing right beside the base of the robot and crashing right into its legs and blowing them apart with each impact. It didn't look like it would be able to get up again. He braked with his unarmed foot and spun around while keeping an eye on the other robot. It was barely managing to keep up with Meroch's movements, just as he'd expected.
He called his wheel back and turned it into its original state, picking it up as it rolled towards him. He propelled himself forward towards his enemy gripping a disc while riding the other. The mech did a downward swing with one sword followed by a slash from the side with the other one. Meroch strafed to the side then crouched to dodge the blows, focusing his weight on his left foot. As soon as the blade went past his head, he jumped high into the air at a medium angle, lunged at the robot's head and extended the blades of the wheel, then pierced right through it. At that moment, he separated his foot from the wheel and landed behind the unsteady machine prepared to strike. He spun a full circle, slashing the legs with an icy blade, freezing them solid. Spinning another time, he landed the final blow and shattered the ice to bits along with the chunks of metal that were once intricately put together with some of the most advanced technologies.
He walked up to the blade that he'd impaled into the robot's head in order to retrieve it. He pulled it out with great force, clearly expressing his disgust towards Atlas' acclaimed military power. As he did so, countless sparks flew out of the body, and it still looked quite unstable. He suspected an explosion to be imminent, so he instinctively warped himself away. The construct burst into flames and its parts scattered all over the place. After waiting a few seconds, he reappeared a few steps back and watched his surroundings burn. There was nothing left for him to do here. He moved back a few more steps while sheathing his weapons and waited for the experiment to be called off.
The barrier that enclosed the room deactivated, and the doors from which Meroch came opened up. A voice started to echo around the room through the mic again.
"Well done, Mr. Leviot. I expected no less from the top of the class. I'm sure you wouldn't mind if we asked you to participate in a few more tests, but unfortunately we have to cut costs because of what happened to our cargo recently."
The General's enthusiasm quickly turned into disgust as he spoke.
"Heh, I guess some people are just more vocal about their hate for your little army," Meroch snickered back.
"It was the White Fang's doing, as per usual. Those wretched faunus don't seem to have anything better to do with their hopeless lives."
Meroch's expression darkened.
"Just as there are bad humans, there are also bad faunus. Why can't you all get that through those thick heads of yours?"
At most times, Meroch couldn't care less about what others said about him, but if it was some irrational stereotype about others that didn't make any sense, he absolutely hated it.
"All of humanity has been working together to restore peace in this world, and the faunus have done nothing but disrupt that peace."
"So you would really say that to all of your faunus students? You know what, never mind. This conversation isn't going anywhere. I'll just keep it simple, General. I've said it before, but I have no plans of continuing my training here at Atlas. It's going to be Beacon Academy for me from here on out."
"Fine. I have no right over your decisions, but I really do hope you reconsider. We could really use someone like you. It's not easy looking for one with conviction like yours."
"With all due respect, General, I sincerely believe this kingdom's being led by the man you say you need. I'm sure you'll have no problem running this place. As for me, I've lived here all my life, and I can safely say that this isn't the place for me. My deepest apologies."
With that, the room fell silent. Meroch turned around and exited the room, not knowing what to expect in the near future.
'A change in pace isn't so bad once in a while. I'm actually looking forward to it.'